At Bottomline Marketing, we know missed opportunities are more than missed revenue. They’re missed chances to generate impact with your business. Bottomline Marketing finds solutions that have not been considered, let alone fully explored. Our in-depth process helps transform these opportunities to move your business forward with impact. Intrigued? Continue reading to find out how Lucy Dunne, Founder of Dunnebells, an online personal training company, generates impact in a saturated fitness market.
Tony Robbins articulated it best when he stated, “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” Just like there is no one right way to run a business, there is no one right way to live a healthy lifestyle. How many of us have stared at the number on the scale (or the number of our business’s bank account) wondering why it won’t decrease or increase the way we want it to?
Lucy has been there. Years of seeing the number on the scale go up and down led Lucy on her own journey to self-love and improved health and wellness. After accomplishing her goal of losing over 65 pounds, Lucy realized she was deeply passionate about helping others unleash their true selves.
How Does Dunnebells Generate Impact?
Despite many early successes and even more failures, Lucy wasn’t really concerned about generating sales through funnels, leads and offers. She knew that having an impactful idea can generate leads; or in the words of Kevin Costner, “If you build it, they will come.” Bottomline Marketing believes there are six pillars that, when combined, become the cornerstone to create impact.
Lucy was keenly aware of her greater purpose. Dunnebells provides its clients with a custom nutrition plan, custom workouts, and a community of support. “Those three things, when they’re married together perfectly, create results,” Lucy noted; something she discovered on her own weight loss journey. Dunnebells tailors each of its programs around your lifestyle. Life is about shared moments, not missing them. Many diets are restrictive, with lengthy lists of “can’t have” or “eat less of”. Your vacation, your best friend’s wedding, or your anniversary celebration aren’t going to wait or care about your restrictive lists! By aligning Dunnebells with a greater purpose – one of enjoying life’s moments, not missing them – Lucy began to generate interest from a like-minded community.
Part of what makes a fitness journey so overwhelming to a beginner, or even a veteran who took time off from their routine, are the many ways to achieve your desired results. By providing step-by-step workout routines, easily understood nutritional plans, and a community of support, Lucy provides extensive value to each client. Lucy notes, “The programs are really tailored to set you up, to learn how to go through that and still have the results you want.” She eliminates the time, money, and headache required to generate a workout and nutrition plan. The Dunnebells community shares the tears we shed when met with failure and amplifies the cheers we shout during success. The value and support provided to each client is innumerable and contributes to Dunnebells’ success as an impactful brand.
This support doesn’t only bring value to Dunnebells clients, it is an attachable quality for the brand. Creating a community has been an integral component of Dunnebells’ success: for both the business and clients. Lucy commented, “One of my favourite quotes is ‘Some women fear the fire, while others simply become it.’And through my own weight loss journey, that used to be written on one of my mirrors. When I would fall off the wagon, it was a quote that always kept me coming back to the same mental state: feeling strong, feeling empowered, feeling like there was more to it, and that I had more to give.”
This quote became a backbone for the growing Dunnebells community. Women began connecting with the quote: they shared it, they set it as their phone wallpaper, and posted it across social media. By generating an attachable quality that resonated clearly, Dunnebells was able to build an audience where people feel they belong, experienced the same things, share common goals and feel a sense of unity, and common purpose. Through generating this sense of belonging, Lucy has created an army of women ready to confront their weight and live their best lives, and a strong brand behind her business.
A Pit-Stop with Failure on the Road to Success
In addition to an engaged audience that wants to buy your products or services, entrepreneurship also requires momentous motivation and drive in order to be successful. Lucy observed, “If you had spoken to me a number of years ago and told me that I’d be where I am today, I would have just flat out laughed and thought, ‘That’s not possible.’” In addition to her drive, Lucy shares a similar trait to many entrepreneurs – especially those in their early stages – the need to take everything on. This typically overshadows their natural talents. New business owners feel very attached to their business – which is not surprising. We spend so much time and energy on them, they feel like an extension of ourselves or a member of our family! Lucy laughed at one realization, “I am not a certified accountant.” She quickly realised she needed to sell her strengths and hire her weaknesses.
Lucy accepted early on that failure is a built-in component to business. She also knew she wanted to build some good into her business. “When I was starting the business always giving back is something that was just sort of ingrained like a pillar,” Lucy mused. This desire to do good within her community led Lucy to be the 2018 Women Build Ambassador for Habitat for Humanity. The programme consists of a bunch of women that want to get together and build a house for which somebody connected to Habitat for Humanity qualifies. Lucy got involved by throwing a launch party and saw how much excitement, real and raw conversations, and buzz was generated by the event. When she went to the site to see the build, she knew she had to get involved. Despite some uncertainty around what they were doing, not being professional tradespeople; Lucy was amazed, “It was really cool just to see all those people come together for this one common cause”.
The experiences Lucy gained from building a home with Habitat to Humanity and starting a fitness business helps highlight the fact that building community creates impact. As she observed, so many different people can come together and be united by something. Whether that is simply a desire to love the reflection in the mirror, or the desire to build something tangible in your community, a goal unifies us, builds success on a greater level, and drives impact across the world.
“I love the freedom.”
When we asked Lucy what it is like to be an entrepreneur, she explained herself in a way that rings true for many of us: “It’s a blessing and a curse, all wrapped in one. I absolutely love it. I love the freedom to be able to call your shots and design things how you believe they should be done. But, at the same time, it’s a balancing act.You need to find what works for you, and what works for your lifestyle. I think that’s one of the biggest struggles of being an entrepreneur.”
When asked if she would start her business differently, Lucy said, “Honestly, no. I think that the lessons I learned from it have been so valuable that if I just skipped past those steps, it would probably happen on a bigger scale down the line, where it would become much more detrimental to the company.”
In Canada, the fitness industry is worth $3BN, with an annual growth rate of 2.3% and over 50,000 employees in the sector. With so much money, opportunity and noise in the market, it can be challenging for someone looking to improve their quality of life to know where to start. As Lucy said, “My failures and my struggles were often because there was too much noise in that space, and a lack of support.” There is no singular, proper way to lose weight, improve fitness, or become healthier. Lucy took everything she learned on her journey and packaged it into her business – one that becomes more successful and impactful each day.
To learn more about Dunnebells, or to sign up with Lucy, visit their website right here.
Watch her full interview below:
